 Alta Vista Center for Autism2695 S. Jersey Street |
Staff DirectoryPlease click on the names below for contact information and a short bio for each staff member.
Phone: (303) 759-1192 Mary Braud is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist with extensive experience with autism spectrum disorders. Mary has worked for the Menniger Clinic, the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver Children's Hospital, Denver Children's Home and Jefferson Center for Mental Health. Phone: (303) 759-1192
Phone: (303) 759-1192 ext 20
Phone: (303) 759-1192 ext 17 As a Denver native, Shannon has been committed to education and local non-profit organizations for the past twelve years as an administrator, teacher, vocational liaison, and counselor/therapist. Her path originated through work with Denver Public Schools as a Kindergarten Lead Teacher and eventually evolved into becoming a GED Instructor/Program Coordinator for a local Community Corrections program serving men and women ages 18-70! Shannon received her B.A. in Behavioral Science from Metropolitan State College of Denver with an emphasis on History and Psychology. During her time at Metro, she focused on Attachment Theory and Child Development. Phone: (303) 759-1192 ext 10
Phone: (303) 759-1192
Phone: (303) 759-1192 ext 22 Nicole Fouts is the program coordinator of the Foundations of Learning Program. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Colorado at Boulder and a master’s degree in education from Simmons College in Boston. Nicole has over five years experience of working with a variety of students on the autism spectrum using the principles of applied behavior analysis, which include working for the New England Center for Autism in Massachusetts, in a residential program and as an educational coordinator of a preschool classroom. Her professional accomplishments include presentations at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference in Boston 2008 and at Annual Applied Behavior Analysis Conference in Chicago 2008. Phone: (303) 759-1192
Phone: (303) 759-1192 ext 19 Nancy is the Development Director of the Alta Vista Center and part of the founding group of the organization. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, a master’s degree in English from the University of Texas, and a master’s degree in Education from Western Washington University. For several years she lived abroad in Russia and Japan and enjoyed teaching English for international organizations. She became a board certified behavior analyst in 2003 as part of her efforts to fully understand the benefits of behavioral analysis in treating autism. Her vision for the Center is that it be a beacon of hope for families across Colorado, offering intelligent, creative, and individualized treatment options. Nancy is also a parent of a son with autism. Phone: (303) 759-1192 More info coming soon ... Phone: (303) 759-1192
In 1997 Helen, her husband, and their three children moved to Boulder. Helen began to build a private practice specializing in the treatment of autism. In Colorado Helen was introduced to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and participated in home programs that used ABA techniques. Helen has attended Verbal Behavior introductory and advanced workshops, completed master’s level coursework in behavior analysis, completed Relationship Development Intervention, Social Stories, and SCERTS model training, and is a Hanen Programs certified instructor. Helen is excited by the possibilities that the Alta Vista Center brings to children, families and professionals in the autism community and to be working with such a knowledgeable and committed staff. Phone: (303) 759-1192
Maureen came to Alta Vista with 32 years of experience in the public schools where she worked as a special education teacher, a general education teacher, an Education/Behavior Consultant, and a Coordinator of Student Achievement Services for students with significant emotional and behavioral disabilities. She set up and coordinated an in-district treatment program for students who benefited from individualized academic and behavioral instruction in a highly supportive, separate learning environment. Maureen was also a staff development instructor and professional study team leader. Her expertise includes individualized behavior plans, differentiated instruction, classroom management, and IEP procedures and processes. Maureen believes strongly that all students deserve to learn in a setting that provides access to appropriately challenging educational curricula. When she is not supporting student success, Maureen enjoys running, skiing, and playing the violin. Phone: (303) 759-1192 ext. 16
Phone: (303) 709-3146 |
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Francine Alberts is a speech/language pathologist with over fifteen years’ experience providing speech therapy services to children with autism and related disorders. Prior to moving to Colorado in 2004, she lived in Austin, TX where she ran a private pediatric therapy clinic. Her range of professional experiences included six years in the Austin school district working with preschoolers to adolescents, six years in community residences working with adults and adolescents, as well as work at a special needs school and a community clinic. She is a certified instructor for Hanen and Fast ForWord programs. She has extensive experience and training in PECS, Floor Time, and Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) programs. Francine conducts assessments and evaluations for individual clients and is also part of our multidisciplinary assessment team. 
Abigail Campbell is the program coordinator of the Intensive Treatment Program. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Drake Univeristy and has completed comprehensive coursework in applied behavior analysis and is currently pursuing a related Masters degree. Abbie has over seven years of experience working with a variety of students along the autism spectrum and their families, including four years as a program manager at a treatment center in central Iowa. She has also coordinated and ran Sib Shops for siblings of children with autism for four years. 
Carrie Clark is the Clinical Director of our Center. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Mary Washington College and a Master of Special Education with specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis degree from George Mason University. In addition, she is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with over ten years’ experience working with students with autism. Her areas of expertise include staff training, curriculum development, inappropriate behavior reduction, and systems development for center-based autism programming. She has worked as a home program therapist and consultant, and in center-based autism treatment as an instructor, teacher, and administrator. Professionally, her areas of interest include staff training, organizational management, communication systems, and functional assessment. She has presented at the annual Conference for the Association for Behavior Analysis, at Conferences in Virginia and Maryland, and served as an invited speaker at the Organization for Autism Research conference. 
Jodi Dooling-Litfin is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in work with children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorders, severe mental health disorders, and neurotypical disorders. She graduated magna cum laude from Macalester College with a BA in psychology and sociology, and then received her MS and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University. Her professional experience includes work at residential therapeutic child care facility, private practice, Program Director and Chief Clinical Director for a nonprofit autism treatment center in Minnesota, as well as faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis, and Birmingham-Southern College. She has also served as staff psychologists for several clinics in Alabama and Minnesota. Jodi has extensive experience in diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of neurobehavioral disorders. Her professional accomplishments include publications in multiple professional journals, presentations across the country, and internships at Kennedy-Krieger Institute and John Hopkins University. She is a certified ADOS administrator. At our center Jodi is a member of our multidisciplinary assessment team and also provides individual therapy. 
Katie Emig is the lead teacher of the early childhood program for children ages 18 months to 5 years old. She has a bachelor’s degree in human development and family life from the University of Kansas, and a master’s degree in early childhood special education, autism emphasis, also from the University of Kansas. Katie worked in the public school system for two years in Kansas as an early childhood special education teacher, primarily consulting with district preschool classrooms in program development. She has also worked as home teacher and coordinator for children with autism for over five years. She has extensive academic and practical training in applied behavior analysis, social communication development, infant/child development. She is a certified in AEPS assessment. Her professional accomplishments include presentation at the Kansas Division for Early Childhood Annual Conference. She is also a former Division I soccer player for KU.
Kathryn Giesler is the Financial Director of our Center. She earned a bachelor’s degree from The University of Dallas and an MBA from the University of Texas in Austin. She earned her CPA degree in 1984. Her areas of expertise include accounting, finance, technical writing, and teaching. She has worked in multiple roles in the oil and gas, real estate, software development, and mortgage banking industries. With her family she has lived abroad in Europe and Japan. When not overseeing the finances at the Center, she enjoys lending support and a friendly presence to children, staff, and families throughout the building.
Helen Nychka has been a speech and language pathologist since 1979. She worked in northern Wisconsin at the Menominee Indian Reservation School District for two years prior to returning to graduate school in Wisconsin. Her first job out of graduate school (1983) in Raleigh, North Carolina, was at a state-run residential school that served many children with autism. It was here that Helen first learned about the unique learning characteristics of children with autism. The job was an initiation by fire into the world of working with children with learning challenges; a caseload of 64 children, all with multiple diagnoses. Division TEACCH, from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, provided monthly consultation to the school and ongoing training for the staff. After two and a half years, the caseload at the school blossomed from 64 to 82 children and she moved on to a job at the University of North Carolina’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. The Center ran an on-sight model daycare program that integrated children with special needs and typically developing children. Helen was the speech-language pathologist for the daycare program and a research assistant to Don Bailey, Ph.D. and Joanne Roberts, Ph. D. She stayed with Frank Porter Graham for five years before starting a family and going into private practice with Rita Thurman, M.S., in Raleigh. Helen’s practice in Raleigh covered the gamut of pediatric and adult speech and language disorders; she worked a great deal with pre-school and school-aged language and learning disabilities, stuttering, and autism. Her favorite population remained children with autism. 
Maureen O’Connor-McGinn is our Curriculum Coordinator. She received her BS in Special Education from the University of Missouri and her Master’s Degree in Special Education from the University of Northern Colorado. She holds a certificate as a Director of Special Education which she received from the University of Denver. Currently Maureen is seeking certification in Applied Behavior Analysis through the University of North Texas. 
Diane Osaki is the founder and former director of the Alta Vista Center for Autism. She is a pediatric occupational therapist and has been working with developmental disabilities for nearly twenty years, specializing in treatment for children with autism and their families. Prior to opening The Alta Vista Center, Diane was with JFK Partners at the University of Colorado Health Services, where she is one of the co-authors of the Denver Model, an internationally renowned program for preschool children with autism. Diane is a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis, the Autism Society of America, and the American Occupational Therapy Association. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Chapter of the Autism Society of America. Diane provides educational and behavior consultation to families and schools in Colorado and around the world. Her intervention focuses on relationship building and the science of instruction to improve learning in all areas of development.